I make my own baby food (I use the Super Baby Food book as well as my own creations), but I'm having trouble with meats. I think baking plain chicken and turkey smells terrible and looks terrible. I've tried pureeing them with vegetables and adding some mild spices, but I still think it stinks. My 8 month old daughter has no problems eating it, but I'd like some new ideas. Does anyone have any good baby food recipes for meats that they'd like to share?
like the previous poster, everything we ate baby ate, adding a little water and into the food processor and then into the ice cube trays. Once frozen I popped into containers or ziplocks in the freezer to pull out for a quick part or meal.
Roast, pot and carrots was a great combo of nutritional needs all wrapped up in a little cube or two.
I always made my own baby food, as well, and I had the same problem. Even all these years later, I remember that the straight pureed meats had an aroma that I found unpleasant. My sons had no problem with it, tho. I found that poaching the meats in broth helped a bit, but I think that the pureeing action must concentrate the aromas. I also used to puree entire meals, which seemed to make the aroma more palatable. For instance, I'd puree a bit of meat loaf, mashed potato and veg together. My boys loved bracciole, which is a complicated Italian dish of braised stuff beef rolls. That was a lot of work, however. Poultry and sweet potatoes pureed together was a fave of my boys, too. Another favorite was slow-cooked pork pureed with cooked apples. I just made a simply-seasoned boneless pork roast in a crock-pot. The meat was tender and would puree easily, and I'd add in roasted apples, or even just plain apple sauce. The remaining slow-cooked pork would become adult food! I would shred it or "pull" it and mix with a nice BBQ sauce for sandwiches.
Hi Becky, You could try just poaching your chicken in water or some chicken broth. You just simmer chicken in a pan (with a lid) with either liquid until the chicken is cooked through I found out about that in the Better Homes and Garden cookbook. You are lucky that your baby eat's babyfood meats...mine didn't like any babyfood meats at all.
Best wishes.
Becky,
I used Super Baby Food too! Another book I like and still use is the Healthy Baby Meal Planner by Annabella Karmel. She's got good fish recipes as well as others. I have a few suggestions: First, try to poach your chicken or turkey with a few whole cloves, garlic glove and bay leaf. This will not only improve the taste but improve the smell too. For beef, my daughters enjoyed beef in small dice cooked with onion, carrots and a bit of tomato paste. If you think about it, all of these ingredients get sweet as they cook so the result was a tangy beef stew that they loved with rice. For chicken, they always like chicken soup with veggies like peas, carrots and to make it more hearty, I add stars or alphabets. I hope these ideas help!
Have you tried http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com ? They have some good recipes.
I made my own baby food using the Super Baby Food system too, but must admit I "cheated" with the meats (after my failed attempt at pureeing a chicken lol) I used "Earth's Best" organic baby food for meats...then used a recipe for "toddler meatballs" when she was older made of organic beef and ground oats..equal parts meat/oats and 20 minutes at 350...she LOVES it, and I know she is getting protien and iron. Your older child might enjoy those...oh, and a book called the "Toddler Cafe" is great...they have a "lily pad" peas recipe that is the only vegetable that my dd likes to eat. :)
p.s Good for you for making your baby's food!...do you know Gerber puts "fillers" in their food that they don't even list? Yuck!
I also made most foods for my baby(3 years ago), but hop I can help. My girl was not(still isnt) a big meat eater, but I found that if I slow cook meats in a broth(chicken) and mix it with the pleasent food she loved(sauces, and such) she loved it!I have this nice little gadget called the Kid Co....Love it. All I had to do was put whatever in the dome, and turn and the handle, and it did my food for me, and I would just feed her right out of it. I paid 12 dollars for it. Then to make it even better....if I needed something to be more runny(when smaller of age), I just added water or formula.....
With baby food being so expensive--and not so attractive either, I always prepared my own for my babies. I would cook up a lb. of veggies, then run them through the blender. By freezing them in ice cube trays, you can take out the portion you need for the day. When I did up applesauce, I also froze that in small portions. When the child was old enough to incorporate other foods into his diet, I purchased a manual baby grinder which can be tucked into a diaper bag even. Then as you serve yourself, just put the same food--hamburger; meat and rice with veggies, etc.--into the grinder with a bit of broth from the veggies or water as needed and feed your baby the same nourishing food that you are eating. And it is hot right along with yours. The nifty little grinder cost me $8-10. and has paid for itself many times over. I purchased mine at Goods in Shaefferstown; I don't know how close you live to one of their stores,but they possibly still carry the little grinders.
Have you though about just using what the rest of the family has for dinner? I did that with my boys when they were babies and they ate everything and it saved me a ton of time. I just put a little of everything we had for dinner in the food processor, added a little water if necessary, and pureed it.
You might see if she would just eat what you are eating, either pureed or just cut up really, really small. If she won't right now, she will be really soon. My son ate the Earths Best or Giant Eagle organic meats (usually come with a yellow vegetable like sweet potato, too) but he's also just eat what ever I was eating. Sometimes (this is gross, but true) I'd chew up whatever I was eating (like steak) and then feed it to him.
I really like the Blender Baby Food book best of all, and you've got some great suggestions for poaching in broth. I'm wondering if your sense of smell is still off from pregnancy? Mine sure is, and I still almost vomit at the smell of uncooked beef.
This actually tastes good. Add chopped green seedless grapes to the chicken.
I don't understand why your chicken and turkey smell awful -- are you overcooking them ? I used to cook the meat at the same time I cooked it for the rest of the family, just not put extra "stuff" on the baby's food. (no terriyaki, etc.)
